


sink

by softambrollins



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-28 20:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16249370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softambrollins/pseuds/softambrollins
Summary: But seeing Seth this brave, this exposed — after running away from this so many times, after lying and denying and choosing to destroy all of it rather than just letting himself have it, out of fear and self-loathing — makes him feel something he hasn't felt in a really long time. Maybe not ever.Maybe it's finally the right time. Maybe they both deserve this after everything that's happened.





	sink

**Author's Note:**

> This is just some purely self-indulgent fluff from after Super Show-down. Let's just pretend Monday didn't happen, okay, thanks.

Roman outright refuses to go to the trainer's room until Dean looks him square in the eyes and tells him that they're okay. Like he didn't just take a fucking bullet for him out there. Like that doesn't render all words useless. Like Roman doesn't know what he means to Dean. Like there's not an unspoken agreement between them that they'd do anything for each other. Ride or die, brothers forever. But he figures he needs to hear him say it like he means it, just this once. 

"I told you," Dean says for probably the tenth time since the match ended. "It's all good, man. I swear. Please, just go let them check you out—"

"It wasn't 'all good' on Monday," Roman tells him bluntly. "Why should I believe you?"

And okay, maybe he's right. Maybe the shit Ziggler and his goons were spewing stirred up some of the buried emotions in him, things he's probably been feeling since he came back but has been trying to cast to the side. Maybe things he's been feeling for a while. Wondering where his place really is in all of this, and even in The Shield. Wondering what he wants, out of wrestling and out of life, and who he wants to be going forward. Wondering if maybe The Shield as it is isn't even necessary anymore, if they're just holding on to the past out of fear of losing each other or of the unknown.

None of them are easy questions to answer, and they probably won't be for a long time, but right now, at this moment, there's nowhere he belongs more than right next to Roman and Seth.

Dean sighs heavily before meeting Roman's stare full-on again. "You know me," he says. "If I have a problem with you, you're gonna be the first one to hear about it. Alright?"

Roman just pauses for a moment, then nods firmly, before reaching up and gently patting the side of his jaw, finally smiling at him.

Dean makes sure he gets him into the room and that he stays put before he turns and heads back to the locker room.

*

Seth's standing there when he opens the door, and he looks like he's been waiting for him and also like he's been thinking a lot about something. It's not an unusual look for Seth, but it seems like there's a bit more to it this time.

He gives him a ghost of a smile when he sees him. And something about it feels _new_ and secret and — almost intimate.

His gaze grows a bit concerned as Dean approaches, eyebrows knitting together. "You okay?" he asks when Dean's right in front of him, almost instinctively reaching out to gently touch his fingers to Dean's arm.

Dean's always been weird about personal space, with being touched, with eye contact — but it's _different_ with Seth. Seth's most comfortable, most certain, when he can feel Dean there next to him, and that makes it feel safe and grounding for him too.

He can feel his eyes on him, intently tracing over his features, like he's looking for the tiniest crack in his demeanor, the slightest doubt or worry or pain, and it should be overwhelming, but he doesn't look away. He just nods. Exhales. "Yeah, I'm fine," he says, and it's the truth. Right now, he couldn't be better.

Seth smiles again. "How's Roman?" he asks now, visibly relaxing. 

"He's _Roman_. Stubborn as a goddamn bull," Dean says, shaking his head. Seth laughs softly. "But he'll be okay. He always is."

"I know he's beating himself up a lot," Seth says quietly. "After what happened."

"Yeah, he was being a dramatic idiot," Dean says, trying to downplay the whole thing.

"You know Roman would rather die than let anything happen to you," Seth tells him, like a fact. And it is. Doesn't mean it doesn't scare the shit out of him sometimes.

"Yeah," Dean agrees, voice gruff. "But he still shouldn't have done that. It was really fucking stupid."

He sees Seth's face fall into an expression he can't quite discern now. Somewhere in between confusion and...almost regret. "Yeah, maybe it was. But it was him or you — and there wasn't a choice for him."

"What about you?" Dean asks, before he can stop himself.

"What?"

"I mean, you sound like you know what was going through that rock hard head of his—"

Seth's eyes get slightly wider as he looks at him, but not out of fear or apprehension, and he slowly curls his fingers tighter around Dean's wrist, moving closer to him at the same time, close enough that he can count his dark eyelashes.

"Dean..." Seth tells him, voice deep and so, so sure that it almost hurts. "I'd do anything for you."

"You really mean that, huh?" he murmurs, throat feeling tight all of a sudden.

Seth nods at him, then lets out a breathless laugh, like just saying that was a huge relief. "You know, I spent my whole life dreaming about what I wanted. What I thought I needed to finally be…complete. And I can't believe it took me so long to realise that all that — it was all bullshit. You don't ever know what you really need, what's the most important thing to you, until it's standing right in front of you. And you realise that the worst mistake you ever made was thinking that you could live without it."

Dean feels him trail his fingers downwards over his palm until he can intertwine them with his own properly. He raises Dean's hand up to his mouth, presses his lips to his knuckles, before he looks up at him again.

And now there's just a glimpse of nervousness in his eyes, like he's wondering if Dean's going to pull away from him or put all his walls up again to protect himself. 

But seeing Seth this brave, this exposed — after running away from this so many times, after lying and denying and choosing to destroy all of it rather than just letting himself have it, out of fear and self-loathing — makes him feel something he hasn't felt in a really long time. Maybe not ever. 

Maybe it's finally the right time. Maybe they both deserve this after everything that's happened.

Dean just stares at him for a long moment, feeling his mouth go dry, lips barely parted. Waiting. For what, he's not quite sure. To wake up, maybe.

"Are you sure?" is the only question his mouth eventually manages to form.

"No," Seth tells him honestly. "This is the scariest fucking thing in the world, when I let myself think about it too much. But it's not scary right now. Not when I'm with you. This is the only place I want to be. This — _you_ — this is home to me. You make me happier than I ever imagined I could be."

Dean doesn't have any idea what to say to that, or how to begin to process any of this, so he does the only thing he can. He reaches out and gathers Seth as close to him as possible, wrapping his arms as tightly as he can around his shoulders, fingers sliding into his hair as Seth pillows his head against his chest and takes a deep breath like he's taking his first one ever.

Seth feels like he belongs right there in his arms, the way he always does — and he suddenly flashes back to the moment that he knew for certain that Seth was _gone_ , that it wasn't just a horrible nightmare, that he really just left and took every trace of every moment they'd spent together with him, corrupted every good memory, stole a piece of his heart and his soul for good measure — He was lying all alone in an empty bed in an empty hotel room and for one moment, just one brief moment, before he gave in to the rage and the hate and the lust for vengeance and let it all consume the dark parts of him that were left — he just let himself fall apart and yearn with everything he had for one more night, one more good memory, with Seth in his arms just like this. Not saying anything, not moving, just feeling and knowing and sinking deeper and deeper into each other. Never finding the bottom. Getting lost down there forever.

They stay like that for what feels like hours until Seth finally draws back, only an inch, to look up at him. He smiles the most content smile Dean's ever seen and Dean tucks a strand of hair back behind his ear and he gets up on his tiptoes to brush a brief kiss over Dean's lips. It's soft and chaste but it makes the skin tingle all over his body like he's been jolted back to life.

Seth leans back as if to check if that was okay, a questioning look in his eyes, and Dean responds by eagerly tugging him back in, kissing his surprised expression away with his own lips. 

It's slow and deliberate but dizzying at the same time, like he's drowning in it, both hands splayed against Seth's neck, thumbs lightly stroking his skin, Seth's arms locked around his waist. It's a miracle that he can retain some semblance of control, given how long he's thought about this, but it's _because_ of that too — he wants to feel and learn and unearth as much of Seth as he can right now. If Seth was a thousand-page book, he wants to commit every word to memory. Wants to dive deep beneath the surface and immerse himself in him. Wants him to flood every sense and permeate the innermost parts of him, until he can't get him out. Wants to _keep_ him.

When they come up for air, Seth just rests his forehead against his own, eyes still closed, makes a satisfied hum under his breath. Dean just watches him up close for a few moments; he's never looked this happy, this beautiful, relaxed and at ease, a light flush of pink over his cheekbones.

He pulls away a fraction, palm against Seth's cheek, until his eyes blink open. He looks like he's been woken up from a deep sleep. 

"You're so beautiful," Dean tells him, taking a moment to appreciate the dazed look on his face, before leaning in and kissing him again, his mouth, his cheek, his jaw, tilting his chin up so he can drag his mouth down over the column of his neck, kiss a line across his collarbone.

Seth draws him back up to meet his lips again, and it's more heated this time, open-mouthed, Dean sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, both of them gasping for breath and for more, for each other, to taste and feel everything they want so bad. Seth’s hands move from the base of his skull up over the curve of his head to run his nails over his scalp and it feels so good that he makes a low moan that Seth swallows along with his tongue. 

He can't resist sliding his hands down over the swell of Seth's ass to haul him even closer and the sudden contact of hips on hips feels like electric wires being struck together.

Seth lets out a deep sigh of pleasure against his lips, and God, Dean wants more of that, wants more of all of this — but it's then that Seth abruptly pulls away again.

"We should probably head out," he says, taking shallow breaths, and Dean hates how logical he can be, now more than ever. "We have to get on a plane in a couple hours." 

Dean groans, but grudgingly nods at him, Seth's hands still resting on his chest, Dean's arms around his waist. He just leans in to kiss him one last time, and it's sweet and gentle and lingering, and Seth lets him for a moment, then one more — 

And that's how Roman finds them. 

"Seriously, guys? Almost ripped my damn shoulder apart and this is what y'all are up to?" He sounds like he couldn't be less surprised by this turn of events though. 

Seth hides his face in Dean's shoulder and mutters an embarrassed apology. 

Dean just bursts out laughing, so hard and so long that his ribs hurt.

*

When they get back to Seth's room, Seth just wordlessly takes his hand and leads him inside. They fall into an embrace in the dark, noses brushing, lips clumsily sliding together, both of them laughing softly against each other's mouths. 

Dean half-guides, half-drags Seth over to the bed, hands on his hips, until they fall back on to it, Seth on top of him. It kind of feels like they're drunk, but not on alcohol, just on adrenaline and the sweet taste of victory and each other.

The end up tangled together in an exhausted heap, Seth's head resting on his chest, one of his legs caught between Dean's, Dean's arms wrapped around him.

Dean leans down and kisses Seth's forehead before he closes his eyes. 

And he knows now with more certainty than ever that this is home. This is where he belongs.


End file.
